Sacrifices to Inca Gods: Frozen Mummies Found on Peru Volcano

   The Associated Press
   L I M A,   Peru,   Oct. 1 — Archaeologists found six frozen mummies of people sacrificed to Inca
gods more than 500 years ago on a snow-capped volcano in Peru’s southern Andes.
   The well-preserved mummies were found in two graves buried with ceremonial pots, gold and silver statues, along with cloth blankets burned by volcanic ash, Peruvian archaeologist Ruth Salas said today.
   The find was made in mid-September near the crater of the 19,100-foot El Misti volcano, 465 miles southeast of Lima.
  “This is an important find because it shows that El Misti is the mountain with the greatest number of human offerings in the world,” said Salas, coordinator of the archaeological team.

  Follows a Princess
  The same team of archaeologists, which included U.S. mummy-hunter Johan Reinhard, in 1995 found a mummy known as “The Ice Princess” atop a nearby mountain, thought to be the best preserved mummy from the pre-Columbian era.
  The Incas, whose empire covered most of the Andes along South America’s western coast before the Spanish arrived in the 16th century, practiced human sacrifice to appease their gods.
  Many mummies from Peru’s pre-Columbian Indian cultures have been found, but few have been frozen. Frozen mummies are better preserved and can reveal more information, scientists say.

                            Copyright 1998 Associated Press.